Is This The World’s Most Expensive Whisky?

This is The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 60 year old, arguably the rarest and most sought after whisky ever produced. Whisky connoisseurs will already be familiar with the delicious drams which hail from the Craigellachie-based distillery, though many won’t have heard of this, one of their many special releases. Bottled in 1986, having spent 60 years trapped in a cask, this single malt is literally too expensive to drink. One of only 24 bottles produced, two different pop artists were commissioned to produce the labels–Valerio Adami and Peter Blake–, each of whose labels ultimately adorned 12 bottles.

Presented in its original Tantalus, based on the traditional ‘Brass and Glass’ distillery spirit safe, it was bought by the vendor direct from the Macallan distillery for an undisclosed sum in 1994, though whatever that price may have been has little bearing on what it will sell for when it goes under the hammer on October 3: a bottle of the same sold just this year for an astounding GBP£814,081.

Ridiculous price aside, it’s unlikely this will touch anybody’s lips anytime soon. Whisky has been performing incredibly well as an investment, and rarities such as this (of which it is unknown exactly how many are left) have become extremely collectible for more reasons than just a cool thing to have on the mantelpiece.

On the block at Leads Bonham’s Whisky Sale in Edinburgh, this has attracted the eye of many from around the world already. Martin Green, Bonhams Whisky specialist in Edinburgh, commented: “The Macallan 1926 60 year old has been described as the Holy Grail of whisky. Its exceptional rarity and quality puts it in a league of its own, and the world’s most serious whisky collectors will wait patiently for many years for a bottle to come onto the market.

“It is a great honour to be offering this amazingly rare whisky at our Edinburgh sale.”